The hotel will attempt authorization per the cancellation policy.

We already know that generalization is faulty.

Calling on the phone? Why, when an email gives you, and them, a written record that can be traced. And what happens when they don't answer the phone and all that?

If you call you can ask for a follow up email. Lots of smaller hotels in Italy don't ever respond to email, and if you call you don't have to put cc info in an email.

This is one reason I try to use booking.com.

I will only stay in a hotel if one of my favorite rooms is available. In order to secure the room I want, I always book with and speak directly to the hotel. I have no use for internet booking sites. That service is for the ordinary masses. That is not my style of travel.

Many hotels around the world (the issue is not country specific), particularly boutique hotels and specialty properties, require specific credit card information to confirm a reservation. If you don't wish to provide this information, you can find a hotel that does not require it or book your stay another way.

The manner in which you choose to "transmit" your credit card info is your decision. No transmission method is 100% safe, but there is plenty of security information available on the internet, from reliable sources, to guide you through the "safest" options.

When it comes to financial security, I would never trust an anonymous poster on the internet, especially someone whose husband worked in a sloppily run business.

'Ordinary masses. '

I must buy my communist pass.
You are an unsufferable Snob, you fool.

Sloppily run business is a nice one too.
Coming from someone who says she made good money selling pics of herself.
What kind of pics actually ?

NYCFood Snob, so you never stay anywhere you have never stayed before?

What if you go to a new place?

I am happily one of the masses. I book on booking, and then I call the hotel, or sometimes email the hotel, to discuss what room I will have. Since we favor small ( less than 20 room) hotels, this has yielded great results. Best of both worlds.
And no, it is not true that the worst rooms are kept for booking.com.

Oh sheesh - can't ask a simple question anymore without it degenerating into a cat fight.

Anyway...... thanks to those of you who actually answered my question. I knew I really needed to deal with it, I was just kind of in denial that maybe it wouldn't be a problem. But definitely better safe than sorry.

So - I am so glad most of the reservations were on booking.com. It was very easy to just go to 'manage my booking' (from my bookings list where everything was all in one place) and hit 'change my credit card details'. Then I got immediate confirmation emails. It took about 15 minutes to do the 12 reservations through them. It took a lot longer for the 5 that were not through them - and I only got one confirmation so far, so may end up taking even longer as I might need to call.

But yes, booking.com is the way to go for ease when something like this comes up.

<i><font color=#555555>"NYCFood Snob, so you never stay anywhere you have never stayed before? What if you go to a new place?"</font></i>

Of course I stay in new places. Sometimes I travel specifically to experience and photograph a new property. Almost every hotel that is worthy of attention has "special" rooms, and certain members of the hotel staff know which rooms these are. All one has to do is pose the right questions to the right person.

Hotels are in the "service" industry. You often get service if you are willing to pay for it. But the vast majority of people who come to this board to chat and contest are looking for steep discounts, or any discount. You are not likely to secure one of the "special" rooms by booking through some subsidiary of Priceline. Great service doesn't work that way.

<i><font color=#555555>"But yes, booking.com is the way to go for ease when something like this comes up."</font></i>

There is no way I would trust a middle-man to confirm a change in credit cards with any of my hotel confirmations. But, based on experience, I don't trust most middle-men.

I am not looking for discounts, just not my nature. I do like the convenience of booking.com though and have never had a problem with them.

I also find wonderful rooms through my combo approach, especially for the very small , mid priced places we favor, where if you book through the hotel you have to pay by wire transfers, especially in rural places in Italy, and where large deposits are required. Since we tend to make hotel reservations way ahead( all our places for our sept trip to Puglia and Rome have been booked for months) this ties up money for a long time.

There is not only one right way to do things.

<i><font color=#555555>"There is not only one right way to do things."</font></i>

I totally agree with that, which is why I don't lecture people on how to travel. I simply share my personal approach, based on decades of experience and a particular style. Readers are free to do what they want with the info. I have no personal investment, whatsoever, in any travel decision a stranger makes on this board.

Somehow your sharing of personal experience often sounds exactly like a lecture.
But I will try to take you at your word that it is not.

<i><font color=#555555>"Somehow your sharing of personal experience often sounds exactly like a lecture."</font></i>

No one can hear the sound of my voice on this board. Rock solid experience of a unique nature, conviction, and years of learning from one's mistakes; they tend to sound strong when expressed in the written word.

Denigrating the ordinary masses is also the fruit of a unique nature ? What kind of nature is that ?

Just pay attention to what you write and it may 'sound' better.